Rug and filler therefor and method of producing the same



June 20, 1939- M. GoLDsTElN RUG AND FILLER THEREFOR AND METHOD OEPRODUCNG THE SAME original Filed Aug. 4,` 1937 z sheets-sheet 1 June 2o,1939. M. GCLDSTEIQ 2,163,337

RUG AND FILLER THEREFOR AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME Original FiledAug. 4, 1937 3 sheets-sheet 2 vf U 'N N M. GoLDsTElN 2,163,337

RUG AND FILLER THEREFCR AND METHOD OF PRODUGING THE SAME June 20, 1939.

Original Filed Aug. 4, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented June 20, 1939UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RUG ANDl FILLER THEREFOR ANDI METHOD FPRODUCING THE SAME Morris Goldstein, Pawtucket, R. I.

9 Claims.

There is today a large outlet for and sale of tubular rugs which aremachine made rugs which are imitations of hand-made hooked or rag rugs.In order to meet competition, which is largely foreign, in this eld, itis necessary to produce rugs which can be sold cheaply, which means thatthere must be a high degree of efficiency in` the rugs and that thematerials which go into the rugs be extremely reasonable or cheap ofprice.

These tubular rugs are fabricated from braided tubes which are filled orstued with a woolen filler and these tubes are wound or vcoiled to makea finished rug of the desired configuration, which is usually, althoughnot necessarily, of a round or oval shape.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision of a noveland improved rug of the type commonly referred to as tubular rugs.

Another object of the invention comprises a novel and improved apparatusand method of producing tubular rugs including the ller therefor.

'I'he objects and improved results of the present invention will appearin more detail in the follow- 25' ing detailed description.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan View of the apparatus utilized inpracticing the present method and in producing ythe present improvedfiller.

0 Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the apparatus appearing in Fig.l of the drawings.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective View, partly in vertical section,illustrating the apparatus for carrying out an important step of theimproved method.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View in side elevation, portion thereofappearing in vertical section of the drive means for the rubbing apronsillustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammaticA View illustrating one method of training thefiller material through the rubbing aprons.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a different way of trainingthe ller material through the rubbing aprons.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a still further manner oftraining the filler material through the rubbing aprons.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a roll of the improved rug filler.

Fig. 9 is a detailed perspective View illustrating the braided tubingand the improved rug ller therein. v

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a tubular rug lled with i the present improvedrug filling material.

The manufacture of a cheap material to be used as a filler or stufng hasbeen long practiced but as will be hereinafter pointed out, suchmaterial in the form in which it is today manufactured, and which isgenerally referred to as roving, is not suitable for use as a filler intubular rugs.

Having reference now to Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, A represents afeed box, B the breaker, C the finisher, and D the first condenser. Theapparatus thus far described is the more or less conventional apparatustoday utilized in the manufacture of roving, Due to the fact that a lleror the filling material must be cheap of manufacture it is composed ofshort length fibres, preferably and usually woolen, which is theordinarily discarded material resulting from other textile operations.This short length fibre t0- gether with a few other fibres of longerlength are fed to the feed box and pass through, the breaker and thefinisher andto the first condenser in the form of a web which iscomposed of loosely clinging short fibres and the few longer lengthbres. In the first condenser D this webbing is cut longitudinally intowhat can be well termed strips and these strips are subjected to arubbing action as they pass between one ormore pairs of endless belts ortapes and are discharged from the first condenser in the form of aplurality of strands E` and F. Each of these longer length strands iscomposed of a plurality of the quite. closely adhering short fibres anddue to this fact the inherent nature of these strands is that they havepractically no strength to withstand any p ull or tension. If a tensionis placed. upon these strands they are broken.

In the apparatus illustrated in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings thestrands are illustrated as passing through an upper setof rubbing apronsor tapes G and a lower similar set H with the'result that the strands Eand Fl are discharging from. the first condenser on an upper level and alower level, as is clearly apparent in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

In ordinary practice the strands E and F are carried to a jack roll orsome other like Winding mechanism and wound thereupon for shipment andfuture use.

The present invention has Kto do with a further treatment of the rovingor strands E and F so as to make a suitable filler material for thetubes of a tubular rug. Actual tests and trials have proven theinadequacy of the rovng'as it is discharged from 4 the first condenserfor use as a filler for these rugs.' In Fig. 10 of the drawings atubular rug is designated as an entirety by J and V.it will be seen thatitis made up of av tube K. By

reference to Fig. 9 of the drawings it will be seen that the tube ofwhich the rug is composed cornprises a braided covering L which is of atubular form. So as to make the rugs of a pleasing appearance thematerial going into the braided tube is usually of different colors soas to form some sort of color design.

In the manufacture of the filled tubes the roving is carried to abraider or braiding machine designated at W which braids the tubularcovering thereon. The roving is usually fed to the braider from a spoolbut it can be led directly to the braiding machine. When the roving on aspool is fed therefrom to the braiding machine this of course placesupon the roving or strands a certain amount of tension, but mostimportant of all is the fact that in the braiding machine the roving issubjected to a considerable tension with the result that roving as itcornes from the rst condenser D cannot be carried to the braidingmachine and a braided cover braided thereon because the roving willbreak underthe tension to which it is subjected during this operation.Repeated trials have proven this to be true and have proven that theroving as it comes from the first condenser cannot be successfullyutilized as a ller for the tubes.

I recognize thatit might occur to someone to take a plurality of theroving strands E and F and twist them together in a single strand withthe idea of feeding the twisted strand to a braider to have a tubularcovering braided thereon. A practice of this kind however is notsuccessful and not desirable for at least two major reasons. The firstreason is that the plurality of roving strands thus twisted togetherprovide what might be termed one large strand, but due to the twistgiven to each strand of roving it has been found that in the braider thestrands are picked up by the braiding machine and are pulled through thebraided cover thus making an unsightly nished tubing and at the sametime making a tubing which rather than being symmetrical throughout itslength is knotty and uneven. An additional and other major objection isthat when a plurality of roving strands are twisted together in theabove mentioned manner it results in the use of Va greater amount ofroving material to each foot of tubing and this in turn means that thecost of the tubing with its filler will be prohibitive of sale in theclose price competition heretofore mentioned.

A still further objection to the twisting method and an objection whichcan well be termed a major one, is that a rug made up of a tubing withtwisted ller is a hard rug in that there is little or no give orresiliency to the filler due to its having previously been twisted.Tubular rugs made up with a twisted filler are undesirable and the rugmanufacturers will not accept a filler of this nature.

Recognizing that the roving as it comes from the first condenser in theusual and generally practiced manner of manufacture is not suitable as afiller for tubular rugs, and'recognizing that twisting a plurality ofstrands of roving together is also objectionable and not acceptacle inthe trade, I have devised the present improved method of producing anacceptable filler and producing as a new article of manufacture both anovel tubular rug and a ller particularly suited and adapted as a fillerfor atubular rug.YV

Inasmuch as the method of producing a single strand of roving as it4comes from the first condenser iswell understoodby those skilled in theart, further description of this portion of the apparatus is consideredunnecessary and a description will now be given of the additionalapparatus and the additional steps utilized and followed in the practiceof my invention.

With the aforementioned well known apparatus for producing singlestrands of roving I utilize a second condenser M and a spool rack N.

The second condenser can be of identical construction as the firstcondenser although it need not necessarily be so. In the drawings thesecond condenser is sufciently illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 to enablethose skilled in the art to well understand its construction andoperation. By reference to these particular figures of the drawings itwill be seen that there are two pair of upper rubbing aprons and twopair of lower rubbing aprons disposed in substantial alignment with theupper aprons. One pair of upper aprons is designated as an entirety by Pand the other by Q while the lower pair are designated as R and S. Eachof these rubbing aprons comprises an endless belt or tape I 0 trainedovei` a plurality of driven tubular shafts II. These shafts extendtransverse the condenser and have their ends suitably supported in theend wall housing I 2 of the condenser. By any suitable means (not shown)at the opposite side of the condenser to that appearing in Fig. 4, theshafts II are rotated so as to impart a rotary motion to the endlessbelts or tapes I0. In addition to this rotary motion an oscillatingmotion longitudinal of each of the belts or aprons is imparted bysuitable eccentrics I3 mounted on a vertically disposed shaft I4 whichis driven by a belt I5 or the like. The eccentrics I3 are suitablyconnected to the shafts Il by a linkage I6.

When the second condenser is in operation it will be apparent from thedescription thus far given that the belts or aprons I0 are being rotatedand at the same time are being oscillated longitudinally.

By reference to Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawings it will be seen that aplurality of roving strands as they come from the first condenser areguided through suitable guide pins Il or the like and led between thetwo upper sets of rubbingaprons P and Q. Due to the motion imparted tothese rubbing aprons these plurality of strands come out from the farside of the rubbing apron Q in the form of a single strand T which ismade up of a plurality of roving strands .which have been caused totenaciously adhere to one another. This strand T which is to constitutethe filler for the rug and upon which the tubular covering is to bebraided, is led downwardly and then forwardly and outwardly through thelower set of rubbing aprons S and is then either wound upon a suitablestub roll I8 which roll is driven through reason of the frictionalengagement of the strand T with a main jack roll I9 mounted for rotationin the spool rack N or where the manufacture of the filler and rug is acontinuous operation the strand T is led directly to the braidingmachine W.

Suitable power means (not shown) well understood in the art, is providedfor rotating the main jack spool I9 and through suitable linkage 20driven off the jack spool a bar 2| is caused to reciprocate. This bar 2Iis provided with a guide eye 22 through which the strand 'I is led priorto going onto the spool I8 with the'result that the filler is wound uponthe spool in the particular .fashion illustrated in Figs. `3 and 8 ofthe drawings. :A spool or ballof filler. material is given` the generaldesignating character V and by reference to Fig. 8 of the drawings itwill be seen that when it comes time to unwind the ball for feeding thesame to the braiding machine that it is unwound from the center asdesignated at 23.

In treating the individual strands of roving in the second condenser inthe manner just described the filler strand T has peculiarcharacteristics. The treatment of the strands in the rubbing aprons doesnot in any way twist the strands but merely forms a plurality of theroving strands into what might be well termed a single piece of fillerin which the individual strands all lie in substantially parallelism onewith the other. This I have illustrated in Fig. 9 of the drawings whereit will be seen that the individual strands a., b, c, and d, etc. makingup the filler are not twisted in respect to one an* other but lie inparallelism. Actually these strands are closely adhering to one anotherdue to the rubbing action to which they have been subjected. In Fig. 9of the drawings the strands are slightly exaggerated and spaces areillustrated as being between them, but in the filler itself there is nospace betweenthe strands but they are in actuality in close cohesion.

The braiding machine W is of any conventional well known type and needsno specific description. This machine braids about the strand T atubular covering such as described and illustrated in Fig. 9 of thedrawings. The resultant filled tube is very pliable and can be coiled toform a rug as is clearly illustrated in Fig. 10 of the drawings.

With a ller of the type illustrated by T the objectionable feature ofthe braiding machine possibly picking up one of the strands of rovingmaking up the filler is obviated; a greater length of filler can bemanufactured from a lesser amount of roving due to the untwistedcondition of the roving; the iiller is resilient and pliant so that therug will not be hard but will have give to it, but most important of allthe filler made up of the plurality of strands treated by this rubbingaction which has caused the strands to adhere, now has sufiicientstrength to withstand the tension to which it is necessarily subjectedin its passage through the braiding machine.

So far as I am aware no one has ever treated roving in the manner whichI have described, nor has anyone ever produced a satisfactory ller fortubular rugs in which the tube comprises a braided covering which isbraided over the filler as it passes through a braiding machine.

It is to be of course recognized that the roving strands E and F as theycome from the upper and lower levels of the first condenser can betrained in different manners through the rubbing aprons of the secondcondenser. In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings all of the roving strandscoining through the first condenser are illustrated as being led orguided first through the two upper sets of rubbing aprons in the secondcondenser and this is also true of the illustration in Figs. 3 and 5 ofthe drawings.

An optional method of treating the roving strands in the secondcondenser is illustrated in Fig. 6 of the drawings where those strands Ecoming from the upper level of the rst condenser are shown as passingstraight through the upper rubbing aprons P and Q while the strands Ffrom the lower level of the first condenser are shown as passing throughthe pair of rubbing aprons R of the lower set of aprons in the secondcondenser and then joining the strand E and passing outwardly throughthe second set of upper rubbing aprons Q of the second condenser.

Fig. 7 illustrates a still further optional form of leading the rovingthrough the second condenser and here it will be seen that the strands Efrom the upper level of the first condenser pass straight through theupper rubbing aprons P and Q of the second condenser while the strands Fin the lower level of the iirst condenser pass through the lower sets ofaprons R and S of the second condenser.

I have found that the strands of roving will withstand such a very smallamount of tension or pull that it is highly desirable to drive all ofthe mechanism constituting the finisher C, the first condenser D andsecond condenser M from a common drive so that the apparatus will besynchronized and not have any tendency to sub- `ject the roving strandsto any appreciable amount of tension which of necessity would result ifsynchronism were not assured.

To those skilled in the art it will be recognized that the problem ofproviding a ller for the use intended cannot be solved by attempting tospin the roving strands because the strands or roving do not havesuflicient strength to withstand a spinning or twisting operation.

The method and apparatus which I have devised results in the productionof a novel and improved tubular rug which is extremely cheap ofmanufacture and has the numerous attributes hereinbefore pointed out.

The method and apparatus which I have devised results in the productionof a rug filler having all the attributes desirable to a materialintended for this use.

Having thus described my improved method, the apparatus utilized inpracticing the same, and the improved article resulting from thepractice of the method, the invention is to be limited only within thescope of the hereinafter appended claims.

I claim:

l. As a new article of manufacture, a piece of filling materialconsisting of a plurality of roving strands each of which is composed ofa plurality of short length fibres, said roving strands lying inparallelism with one another and adhering to one another to constitute asingle general strand, and a tubular covering for said filler.

2. The improved method of producing a tubular rug, consisting ofproviding a plurality of individual roving strands composed in the majorpart of a plurality of short length fibres held together by a rubbingaction imparted to them, grouping a plurality of said roving strands andsubjecting said group of strands to a rubbing action and continuing saidrubbing action until the individual roving strands have closely adheredto one another to form a single strand composed of a plurality of saidindividual roving strands disposed in parallelism with one another,providing a yieldable tubular cover for said single strand coiling saidcovered strand to form a rug of the desired shape and size, and securingthe adjacent convolutions of said coil together.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a piece of filling materialconsisting of a plurality of roving strands each of which is composed ofa plurality of short length fibres, said roving strands lying inparallelism with one another and adhering to one another to constitute asingle general strand, and a tubular braided cover therefor.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a rug comprising, a yieldable coiledtube, a ller in said tube composed of 'a plurality of roving strandswhich have been caused to adhere to one another, said strands beingdisposed in parallelism to one another, and means securing theconvolutions of said tube together.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a rug comprising, a braided coiledtube, a ller in said tube composed of a plurality of roving strandswhich have been caused to adhere to one another, said strands beingdisposed in parallelism to one another, and means securing theconvolutions of said tube together.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a piece of filling materialconsisting of a plurality of roving strands, said strands being disposedinv parallelism with and adhering to one another to constitute a singlegeneral strand, and a tubular covering for said general filler strand.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a piece of iilling materialconsisting of a plurality of roving strands, said strands being disposedin parallelism with and adhering to one another to constitute a singlegeneral strand, and a flexible braided covering for said general illerstrand.

8. The improved method of producing a rug, consisting in providing aplurality of individual roving strands, grouping a plurality of saidstrands and subjecting said group to a rubbing action which will resultin the formation of a single general strand the individual strands ofwhich lie in parallelism with and closely adhere to one another,providing a tubular cover for said general strand, coiling said coveredstrand to form a rug of the desired shape and size, and securing theconvolutions of said coil together.

9. The improved method of producing a rug, consisting in providing aplurality of individual roving strands, grouping a plurality of saidstrands and subjecting said group to a rubbing,

action which Will result in the formation of a single general strand theindividual strands of which lie in parallelism with and closely adhereto one another, braiding a tubular cover' on said general strand,coiling said covered strand to form a rug of the desired shape and size,and securing the convolutions of said coil together.

MORRIS GOLDSTEIN.

